Posts Tagged ‘Ford Focus WRC’

If you see a problem, you see the solution as well! If you have that everyday environmentally-friendly but otherwise useless car and you want to have a go at the wintersport, why don’t you take a car that you’ve used to challenge muddy, dusty and snowy raods anyway? The Ford Focus WRC is good for it, don’t you think? Well, just start, put the skis on top and the cases inside and go to the snow and the ski slopes! You will not be the only one embracing this concept. However, looking at the signs at the side, I’d doubt if the driver really likes the snow or prefers the sunshine.

One week after the end of the Rally Great Britain and its 36th victory in the World Rally Championship, the Citroën C4 WRC claimed a one-two finish at the Rallye de Monza. Spain’s Dani Sordo finished in front of Dindo Capello at the Italian circuit.Taking place within the circuit complex that hosts the Italian Grand Prix, the Rally de Monza is run on the current Formula One track as well as the old high-speed loop.
The Spaniard, who finished fifth in this year’s World Rally Championship, claimed the advantage on SS1 (Lesmo) by going 2.4 seconds quicker than his Italian rival. But the triple winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours fought back on the following stage (Junior) to end the day with a 0.4 second lead over Sordo. Felice Re was fifth, 16.6 seconds further back.
The two leaders continued to trade tenths of seconds the following day, despite the heavy rain. Dani Sordo was consistently the quickest in the shorter stages (Junior, Lesmo and Monza) while Dindo Capello was faster than him on Grand Prix: a longer 32-kilometre stage that was run twice. By the end of day two, Dani Sordo had built up an 11.9 second lead over Dindo Capello and nearly a minute over Felice Re, who had made his way up to third place.
Dindo Capello set two more fastest stage times at the end of the rally, but Dani Sordo still won the 30th Monza Rally by 5.1 seconds. Felice Re was forced to retire on the final special stage.
Dani Sordo commented at the finish: “Conditions were really difficult because of all the rain. Capello was very quick on this rally, which he knows perfectly. Nonetheless we managed to win. This is exactly the way I wanted to say goodbye to the Citroën C4 WRC. I’ll always have some fantastic memories of this car.”
Dindo Capello, a quadruple winner of this event in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009, added: “We had the pace to fight for the win. It was a very exciting battle, and Dani did a great job.”
Monza Rally 2010 1. Sordo-Vallejo (Citroën C4 WRC) 1:19’29″5 2. Capello-Pirollo (Citroën C4 WRC) +5″1 3. Longhi-Cassol (Ford Focus WRC) +1’46″8 4. D’Aste-D’Aste (Lotus Exige GT) +3’01″8 5. Giaconia-Torri (Ford Focus WRC) +3’41″9 6. Andreucci-Andreussi (Peugeot 207 Super 2000) +3’55″8 7. Musti-Biglieri (Peugeot 307WRC) +4’45″7 8. Uzzeni-Nibbio (Subaru Impreza WRC) +5’15″1 9. Araujo-Rovagnati (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) +5’26″1 10. Paccagnella-Bianco (Citroën Xsara WRC) +5’27″2